1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus and method for dispensing medication and more particularly to self-dispensing apparatus for storing solid medicaments in bulk and quickly and accurately individually dispensing solid medicaments from the bulk storage while controlling and varying the dosing regimens.
2. Description of Prior Art and Objects
It is common for the elderly to ingest many different pills and tablets of various prescription and non-prescription medicines. It is typical for the medications to be taken in different amounts, on differing days, and at differing times. It is routine for patients to be suffering under the influence of amnesia, either as a result of aged infirmities or amnesia from anesthetic. Geriatric patients lose mental acuity causing many of the lapses resulting in no medication or improper medications by ingesting a double dose. Some people find it necessary to keep a written memorandum as a reminder of when and how many pills they are to take. Some carry a check list, however, they sometimes forget to check off the check list and, thus, they either suffer from taking a double dose of medication and/or from not taking enough medication.
Moreover, geriatric patients frequently lose visual acuity resulting in the inability to properly read labels on the pill containers. If a nurse is helping the individual, the nurse regularly has many patients and may visit other than at the prescribed times for taking the medications. Typically, geriatric patients suffer from being under medicated or over medicated. Inaccurate historical reporting also interferes with a prescribing physician""s treatment. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide new and novel method and apparatus for accurately dispensing varying doses of medications at varying prescribed times.
It has been found advantageous to store a variety of medications in bulk in a plurality of compartments provided in a rotary carousel. Carousels have been provided heretofore in pill dispensing devices such as that illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,997 issued to John Urquhart on Feb. 16, 1988. The Urquhart patented device stores medication in a series of circumferentially spaced-apart pockets provided in a carousel; however, a high degree of dexterity is required to remove the pills from the pockets and thus has serious limitations, particularly involving the elderly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,657,236 issued to Gary W. Conkright on Aug. 12, 1997, discloses a medication dispensing and timing system which performs several functions but which does not in fact dispense the medications.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,047,948 issued to Joseph D. Turner on Sep. 10, 1991, discloses a medication dispensing system in which the medication is prepackaged. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide medication dispensing apparatus which will allow the medication to be stored in bulk form prior to being dispensed.
It is another object of the present invention to provide new and novel medication dispensing apparatus for aiding patients who must ingest various medications in various amounts, several times a day for an extended period.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide new and improved apparatus for storing various medications in bulk form and a capacity to select and dispense any selected number of each medication in a single dose.
Most medication, whether sold in pill or tablet form, is quite small in size and many geriatric patients do not have the dexterity to individually grip the pills or tablets. It has been found advantageous to utilize a vacuum operated probe or finger which seals in airtight relation to a single solid medicament and then lifted or moved. One such prior art device is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,490,610 issued to Walter G. Pearson on Feb. 13, 1996. Such a device, however, requires the patient to remember the time and date when pills are to be taken and further requires that the patient have considerable dexterity to periodically manually install a vacuum tube through a small tunnel in a sidewall where pills are kept in bulk. Accordingly, another object of the present invention is to provide an easily operated vacuum operated system for automatically, accurately retrieving and dispensing pills or tablets from a plurality of bulk storage bins with challenged manual dexterity and coordination.
It is yet another object of the present invention is to provide a vacuum operated system for accurately retrieving any desired number of pills from any of a plurality of storage bins in bulk form and depositing them into a single container to be ingested by the user at any one of a plurality of selected times and on any one of a number of a plurality of selected days.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide medicament dispensing apparatus of the type described including a new and novel vacuum operated probe or finger for retrieving an oral solid medication or other pharmaceutical from a bulk supply.
It is a further object of the present invention is to provide new and improved medicament dispensing apparatus of the type described that will store and dispense various medications in the proper chronological order, daily intervals, and for an extended period of time.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide new and novel apparatus for accurately dispensing individual solid medicaments such as pills or tablets from a plurality of bulk storage bins.
Other vacuum operated medicine dispensers are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,405,048 and 5,480,062 issued to Lisa M. Rogers, et al on Apr. 11, 1995, and Jan. 2, 1996, respectively. In this construction, a probe is associated with each and every bin and does not include a single pivotal vacuum operated probe which can be disposed in any selected one of the containers to pick up a pill therein and dispense it at a dispensing station. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide new and novel pill dispensing apparatus of the type described which includes a single vacuum finger that is pivotally mounted on a frame for movement in a vertical swinging path of travel between a lowered position in any selected one of the bins and a raised position above the carousel allowing the carousel to be rotated.
It is another object of the present invention to provide new and novel medicament dispensing apparatus of the type described wherein a single vacuum operated finger successively enters each bulk storage bin and a control system that applies vacuum to the finger in any selected bin to detachably hold one random pill therein.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a pill dispensing apparatus and method of the type described including a carousel provided with a plurality of pill storing bins and a plurality of vertical discharge openings there-through adjacent the bins and a vacuum operated probe which can swing downwardly into any selected bin to pick up and remove a random pill and hold it until a vertical discharge passage is thereunder and then releasing the pill for discharge through one of the discharge openings.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of discharging medications including the steps of retrieving a pill from one of the bins and moving it to an elevated position above the bins, holding the pill in an elevated position and then moving a discharge chute into alignment therewith.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a method of discharging solid medicaments by elevating an individual medicament from a bulk storage carousel bin to an elevated position above the carousel and then rotating a carousel to dispose a vertical discharge chute provided in the carousel into vertical alignment with the elevated pill and then releasing the vacuum and discharging the pill to the chute.
The construction illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,480,062 includes a vacuum operated medicine dispenser which includes a vacuum probe associated with each and every storage bin, which is a relatively expensive construction. Accordingly, it is another object of the present invention to provide a new and novel apparatus of the type described which utilizes a single vacuum finger that is selectively moveable in to and out of all of a plurality of bulk storage bins carrying a plurality of different medicaments.
The aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 5,480,062 also includes a complicated system for moving the withdrawn pills to a position radially outwardly of the carousel in which the pills are stored. Accordingly, it is another object of the present invention to provide apparatus of the type described including a new and novel apparatus overlying the carousel for dispensing solid medicaments following their removal from a bulk storage bin.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide new and novel method and apparatus of the type described which includes dispensing passages disposed in the carousel for receiving and passing solid medicaments removed from the bulk storage bins to a single container disposed below the carousel.
It is another object of the present invention to provide pill storage and dispensing apparatus of the type described which includes at least one dispensing passage disposed adjacent each pill storage bin.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide pill storing and dispensing apparatus of the type described including a pill dispensing chute there-through between each successive pairs of bulk storage compartments.
Still yet another object of the present invention is to provide pill storage and dispensing mechanism of the apparatus of the type described including pill dispensing chutes which are radially aligned with the tip end of a vacuum probe that lifts a pill to a raised position above a storage bin and holds it until a dispensing chute is disposed thereunder.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide new and novel cam and cam follower mechanism for vertically swinging a single vacuum probe in a to-and-fro swinging path of travel to move a vacuum probe tip end into and out of the bulk storage bins as the carousel rotates.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a rotary bulk storage carousel of the type described having a hub and an annular sidewall spanned by a plurality of circumferentially spaced vanes defining upwardly opening compartments for storing pluralities of different medicaments and a discharge chute in the carousel aligned with the radially outer ends of the vanes separating each successive pair of storage bins.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more readily apparent as the descriptions hereof proceeds:
Apparatus for storing and dispensing solid medicaments comprising: a frame having a retrieving and dispensing station thereon; a carousel mounted on the frame for rotation about a vertical axis and including a plurality of circumferentially spaced-apart, upwardly opening compartments for storing the medicaments in bulk; mechanism for rotating the carousel about the vertical axis to dispose any selected one of the compartments at the retrieving and dispensing station; and medicament retrieving mechanism swingably mounted on the frame between a lowered pill retrieving position in which a terminal end of the retrieving mechanism adheres to a solid medicament in the selected compartment and an elevated position above the selected compartment for lifting a solid medicament from the selected compartment to a raised position above the carousel.